I. Plot
occurs within a character.
Character v. him/herself
occurs outside of
a character.
character v.
society, world,
nature, or
another
character.
Events leading to the
conclusion.
The resolution of the
original conflict. Also called
the Dénoument and
includes any action after
the resolution.
Setting
Is the TIME and PLACE of the events of
the story. This doesn’t just mean
which town or country the story is set
in, it can refer to the culture, the
region, the room, the weather, etc.
Or, the setting may include place, but
leave the time period ambiguous
because the story’s plot and
circumstances are timeless.
Tone and Mood
Tone is the narrator or author’s
attitude about the subject of the piece
of literature. Some sample tone
adjectives are: angry, romantic,
frightened, cheerful, condescending,
thoughtful, etc.
Mood is the effect of the images, word
choice, conflict, tone, etc. on the
audience.
Figurative
Language:
A. Simile
Indirect comparison of
two unlike things using
like, as, seems, or than.
Example: They flew like
birds to the party. She is
as mean as a snake.
Figurative
Language
B.
Metaphor
Direct comparison of two
unlike things.
Ex: The man is a pig.
Our father is a rock.
Figurative
Language
C.Personification
Giving human characteristics
to an animal or inanimate
object.
Ex. “The sea licked greedy
lips in the shadows.”
Anthropomorphism
Specific type of personification
wherein we attempt to
understand/translate nonhuman behavior/motivations
through the human, hence
“anthrop,” lens.
Ex. The puppy was crying
because he was scared.
Hyperbole
Extreme exaggeration
Example: I have told you
a million times what
hyperbole is!!!!
Symbol
Something that
represents more than
what it is―more than the
thing itself. Example:
Red rose=love.
Sound
Devices...
Alliteration:
Repetition of initial sounds.
Example: Mild mannered
millionaire, and silly, silly
students.
Onomatopoeia:
When a word sounds like
what it is. Example: Whack,
buzz, tinkle, sizzle, pop, and
ding!
Sound Devices
Cacophony—use of harsh or
clashing sounds. Often used in
descriptions of war, violence, hate,
etc.
Euphony—use of smooth or flowing
sounds. Often used in description
of love, happiness, joy, etc.
Sound Devices...
Dialect—when literature is written,
and words are spelled to indicate
how the speech of a region or
character sounds.
Such as southern dialect with
words like: y’all, fixin’ ta, howdy,
etc.
Consonance
Consonance is the repetition
of consonant sounds.
Example:lady lounges lazily ,
dark deep dread crept in
Assonance is the repetition of
vowel sounds.
• Examples: fleet feet sweep by
sleeping geeks.
Communion
Whenever an author writes about eating
or drinking, he/she is assessing the
relationship of characters. If food and
drink is shared, the relationship is
good. If food and drink are
uncomfortable or are refused, the
opposite is true.
Allusion
A reference to anything from art,
history, mythology, The Bible,
Shakespeare, etc.
Example: In “The Most Dangerous
Game” Zaroff's dog who sinks in the
quicksand is named for Lazarus from
The Bible who was raised from the
dead.
Imagery
Words that are used to help
readers experience
something through their
senses.
There are several specific
types of imagery you should
know...
Imagery Types...
Sight:Visual Imagery
Ex. The pool was crystal
clear and deep blue with
waters calmly rippling.
Imagery Types...
Hearing=aural imagery
Ex. I knew my mom was
really mad when I heard
the SLAM of the door.
Imagery Types...
Touch=Tactile imagery
Ex. The bunny’s fur felt like
silk against my hand.
Imagery Types...
Taste=Gustatory imagery
Ex. The salt lingered on his
lips long after he had eaten
the olives.
Imagery Types...
Smell=Olfactory Imagery
Ex:The scent of rotten
eggs wafted through the
halls.
Imagery
Types...
Thermal Imagery to show
us how warm or cold
something is
Ex. The blood warm
waters of the Caribbean
closed over his head.
Imagery
Types...
Kinetic Imagery is used
to show us how
something moves.
Ex: The boat rocked back
and forth and back and
forth and back and forth.
Poetic Apostrophe
When the speaker
addresses someone or
something that is not
present.
Ex: “Oh, Elvis. Your
words inspire me to
tears!”
Is process of informing an audience
about a character. There are two
methods authors employ:
Direct characterization—the speaker
tells us directly about a character
and what to think about him/her.
Example: “Ms. Labor was the
meanest teacher at Sumner High.”
Characterization,
cont.
Indirect characterization—the
speaker reveals a character
through his/her words and actions
and the audience draws
conclusions.
Main character
of a story,
sometimes
referred to as
a hero.
Character that is in
conflict with the
protagonist.
Sometimes called
the “bad guy,” and
often shown in dark
clothing in films.
Examples: dumb jock, ditzy blond,
absent-minded professor, pencilnecked geek, macho cop, kooky
artist, etc.
Dynamic Character
#27: Static Characters
These characters do not change
as a result of the action or
conflict. They stay the same
from the beginning to the end.
These static characters are most
often also the flat
characters.
Point of View
is the vantage point from
which a story is told. For
the purpose of discussing
literature we usually
focus on the following
four types:
First Person Point of
View
The narrator
(story teller) is
involved in the
story and uses
“I” to unfold the
plot.
Second Person Point of
View
The narrator tell the
story using the
pronoun “you” as the
driver of the plot.
Most rarely used
narrative point of
view.
Third Person Limited
Point of View
The narrator is not
involved in the story and
reveals the thoughts and
feelings of only ONE
character.
Third Person Omniscient
Point of View
The narrator is not involved
in the story, and can see into
the minds (thoughts and
feelings) of all the
characters.
Suspense and
Foreshadowing
Suspense is the quality of a work that
makes us continue to read to see what
will happen next. Writers create
suspense with details that arouse
curiosity by foreshadowing, or
hinting at what is to come.
Ex. A thunderstorm on the morning of
an outdoor wedding might foreshadow
a bad marriage.
Diction
Diction is word choice.
Each time a writer
chooses one word over
another it effects the
readers’ experience.
Three Types of Diction
1. High/Formal Diction: Many
Polysyllabic words, formal sounding,
sometimes considered “pedantic”
This is the language you would hear in a
college-level discussion.
2. Neutral Diction: This is deliberately
clear language. Not overly formal. It is the
language we should be using with each
other in the classroom.
3. Low Diction: This is language that is full
of slang, dialect, and informality. This is
the language of the high school hallway.
Explication
Line-by-line or stanza-bystanza explanation of
poetry.
Rhetorical Questioning
Questioning that you don’t expect
anyone to answer. Its purpose is to
make people think, and sometimes
work out internal conflict in literature
and in life.
Types of Irony
Situational: when what happens is
ABSOLUTELY not what could have
been predicted.
Example: My neighbor kept talking
about his cat, Lucky, and when I
saw him he only had three legs
and one eye!
Types of Irony
Verbal: when what is said what is not
what is meant.
Example: When my brother dropped
my super expensive sculpture and it
broke into one thousand pieces, I
said, “You are BRILLIANT!”
Types of Irony
Dramatic: when the audience
knows things that the
character’s don’t know.
Example: When the husband
has purchased an anniversary
gift for a wife, and the audience
saw him do it, but the wife
didn’t, every time she gives
him a hint or nags him about it,
the audience gets a laugh.
Theme
Theme is the most important concept to
understand for the purpose of encountering art
of any kind. Everyone who writes, sings,
draws, sculpts, acts, directs, designs, etc. has
a vision or an opinion about some aspect of
life that he/she wishes to share with his/her
audience. This vision or opinion is called the
theme!
We should phrase our theme statements
universally, U.M.
Synecdoche
Synecdoche is a type of metaphor; one
word or a part that represents the
whole.
Examples:
• One man can change his stars.
• All hands on deck.
• Lend me your ears.
Metonymy
Metonymy is substituting a word for
another word closely associated with
it.
Examples:
• The White House said in a press release.
• The peasants bowed to the crown.
• The central office makes the rules.
Malapropism
• Malapropism is an act or habit of
misusing words ridiculously, esp. by the
confusion of words that are similar in
sound.
• Example: You say one thing but mean
your mother. 
• Or, on a more serious note: You say
weary when you mean wary.
Anaphora
Anaphora [LLat. Gk. anapherein, to repeat: ana-,
again + pherein, to carry]
• The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase
at the beginning of several successive verses,
clauses, or paragraphs.
• One of the devices of repetition, in which the
same phrase is repeated at the beginning of
two or more lines.
• "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight
on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the
fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the
hills" (Winston S. Churchill).
Paradox
Paradox is a seeming contradiction.
Ex.
• The blind prophet (someone who can see
the truth/future).
• Innate wisdom in the uneducated.
• Parents who want their children to have an
easier life, but are then disappointed in
their kids for having it too easy.
Ethos
Logos
Pathos
Verisimilitude
The appearance of truth; the quality of
seeming to be true. Something that has
the appearance of being true or real.
Character Foil
Foil is a character that contrasts second
character that highlights certain
qualities of that first character.
Ex: Tybalt/Romeo (the fighter/the lover)
Anachronism
Anachronism something that occurs out of its
time period.
Example:
• The clocks in Julius Caesar
• 1962 Pennies in the opening scene of 1932
set To Kill a Mockingbird
• Music from A Knight’s Tale/Mulin Rouge
• Knight’s Tale and the Nike Swoop.
Oral Tradition
Oral tradition is the way in which stories
were passed down from generation to
generation before written language was
common.
Epic
An Epic is a long poem about the
adventures of a hero or of the gods.
• Ex. The Odyssey is an epic about
Odysseus’ ten-year journey home.
• Other Epics: Virgil’s Aeneid , Don Juan,
Paradise Lost, The Divine Comedy,
Beowulf, Metamorphoses, Gilgamesh,
and of course, The Iliad
Kenning
Is a compound expression used in place
of a name or noun.
Examples:
• Whale-road = ocean
• Flashing-steel=sword
• Light of battle=sword
• Battle sweat=blood
Beot
Beot (Anglo-Saxon: "vow"; becomes Modern English "boast") A
ritualized boast or vow first made publicly by Anglo-Saxon
warriors known as thegns before the hlaford in a mead-hall
the night before a military engagement. A typical warrior's
boast might be that he would be the first to strike a blow
in the coming battle, that he would kill a particular
champion among the enemy, that he would not take a
single step backward in retreat during the battle, that he
would claim a renowned sword from an enemy warrior as
booty, and so on.
Example:
• From A Knight’s Tale: Introductory speech by Chaucer for
Ulrich/William.
• Tons of them in Beowulf
Xenia
Xenia is the Greek concept of the guest/host
reciprocal relationship.
• Concept at the heart of the Greek culture.
• It is not as simple as “hospitality.”
• Hospitality in our culture is voluntary.
• It is an obligation/ bond , between the two Xenos and is
hereditary
• You would choose a Xenos based on your social station.
• Xenia was mandatory, and enforced by none other than Zeus
Xenios. Violators were punished!
• Translation: If you eat at my table or sleep under my roof, I
will do you no harm, and you will do me no harm.
• You can only ask the identify of a guest AFTER you have fed
him.
• Interesting tidbit: it is the source of our word Xenophobia—
fear of strangers (Xenos--foreigner)